The boy was found to have a high lead count last year, which she blames largely on faulty toys.

“I'm buying things without paint, and reading the labels,” she said as she shopped at Target in Taunton on Friday.

As the news of toy recalls continues to spread, many shoppers would like to boycott toys made in China. However, finding toys made elsewhere takes time and money that many shoppers don't have.

So far this year, the federal government's Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued nearly 100 toy recalls due to lead hazards. The recalled products — many manufactured in China — posed varied levels of risk for lead poisoning of children. While many toys made in China are safe, and their safety standards are touted on labels, parents are shopping with a strategy, or at least caution, this year.

An informal survey of toy shoppers shows that many are seeking alternatives to painted plastic toys, such as clothes, books, video games or unpainted wooden toys. Still, some shoppers just want to be sure what they are buying is safe.

Lauren McCarthy, a Rockland mother of a 19-month-old boy, started her shopping early enough to discover that the Thomas the Tank toy she purchase for her son for Christmas had been recalled. After checking the manufacturer's Web site, www.rc2.com, she went to the Toys R Us in Brockton on Saturday to exchange the toy for something similar that hadn't been recalled.

While some shoppers have a specific toy in mind and research its safety before buying, others try and play it even more safe by avoiding potentially hazardous toys altogether.

Nancy Hecht of Brockton is trying to do more research on the toys she'll give her seven grandchildren for Christmas.

If she could, she would boycott Chinese-made toys entirely, but she says that requires a lot of work.

“The reality is, I work full time,” she said. “And so do their mothers.”

Kim Johnson of Rockland loaded her minivan in the parking lot of Brockton's Toys R Us Saturday with more than 40 items — all made in the United States. In addition to her concern about the safety of Chinese-made toys, Johnson said she also likes to support American-made products, and she's willing to put in the work to do just that.

“It's not that hard. You have to read a lot of labels,” she said.

Mark Belanger of Middleboro, who was shopping at Target in Taunton on Friday with his two sons, said he hopes to avoid Chinese-made toys by shopping online, avoiding painted toys, and buying video games.

Even with a 6- and 7-year old, lead paint contamination from toys is still a risk, he said. He also doesn't like to buy Chinese made products because of human rights issues in that country.

“American products are first on my list, Chinese are last,” he said, “but we have very little choice but to buy Chinese-made toys.”

Early Friday morning, shoppers flocked to a sale at the Village Toy Shop in Easton, an independently-owned toy store which opened in 1994.

Owner Kathy Mabry said she makes an effort to carry toys made by smaller companies that are likely to have more oversight over safety, “but toys are made by companies, not countries,” she said, a point many people in the toy industry are trying to get across amid constant reports of dangerous toys.

Some of her customers ask for anything that isn't made in China, but others are just concerned about the safety of what they are planning to buy.

“People still want their child to play. I hope they don't decide that toys are no longer a good thing,” she said.

Tom Murray of Easton is vice president of Pepperell Brading, the parent company of Holgate Toys, which produces wooden toys in its Bradford, Penn., factory.

Murray believes that the recent lead paint scare has contributed to the company's more than double than expected sales this year.

“We expected some volume, but we never expected it to be like this,” he said.

Like many shoppers, Dolly Ugi of Lakeville is relying on the parents of the child for whom they are buying, to know about the safety of products. She asked her sister-in-law what to buy her niece, and she recommended an “American Baby” doll.

Is it made in America?

Ugi shrugged and smiled.

Rebecca Starcevic can be reached at rstarcevic@enterprisenews.com.

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